the other shoe drops

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Feb 07, 2008

"In his 14 years as pastor, Father Moynihan has dedicated himself to deepening the faith of his parish family and displaying a genuine concern for the spiritual welfare of both young and old."

If those words look familiar, perhaps that's because you have seen them here before. They're taken from the words of consolation that Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, brought to the people of St. Michael the Archangel parish in Greenwich, Connecticut, just about a year ago, after he removed their pastor.

The problem at that time was classified under "Financial Mismanagement- Gross"-- a half-million dollars was missing from parish accounts. The diocese certainly couldn't allow that sort of thing to continue, so Father Moynihan was packed off to a new assignment as a college chaplain, where he wouldn't be handling contributions from wealthy parishioners.

Now the New York Post reports that Father Michael Moynihan has been suspended from ministry, after the diocese discovered that he has been living in a New York apartment with his actor-boyfriend-- who, just to compound the intrigue, was once employed as the children's-choir director at that affluent parish in Greenwich.

How did the diocese learn about the priest's romantic life? The Post, tooting its own reportorial horn a bit, tells us that "the Post told church officials that he has lived with another man in a pricey Manhattan one-bedroom apartment for years."

For years, notice. A priest was removed from his parish assignment, having spent $500,000 without adequate explanation, and somehow the diocesan investigation didn't get around to establishing that priest's actual residence?

Well, hats off to the New York Post for discovering what officials of the Bridgeport diocese could not-- or perhaps we should say would not-- learn for themselves.